In our afternoon reading: fiction by Lauren Oyler and David Leo Rice, an interview with Francisco Goldman, and more.
Morning Bites: Bette Howland, Best Translated Book Awards, Idra Novey Poetry, Donald Newlove, and More
In our morning reading: exploring the fiction and legacy of Bette Howland, an interview with Juliet Grames, and more.
Morning Bites: The Spinanes, Idra Novey’s Latest, Sandra Jackson-Opoku, Nuruddin Farah Interviewed, and More
In our morning reading: inside a Spinanes reissue, an interview with Nuruddin Farah, notable music books, and more.
Morning Bites: Idra Novey Interviewed, Ricardo Aleixo Poetry, Joan Didion On Stage, and More
In our morning reading: an interview with Idra Novey, adapting Joan Didion for the stage, and more.
Morning Bites: Leonard Cohen, Idra Novey Interviewed, Lesley Hazleton’s Recommendations, Lucia Berlin, and More
In our morning reading: excerpts from Leonard Cohen’s notebooks, interviews with Idra Novey and Shopping, and more.
“Those Who Knew” and the Fiction of Political Realities
Though it’s largely set in an unnamed Latin American nation, Idra Novey’s new novel Those Who Knew abounds with moments that will sound familiar to readers in the United States. There’s a seemingly-idealistic male political candidate whose upstanding veneer conceals bleaker impulses; there’s the fact that said candidate’s treatment of women places him one potential scandal away from (justifiable) ruin. Novey’s novel abounds with legislators compromised by their ties to industry, artists from the upper class relentlessly mocking the foibles of the wealthy, and a landscape in which the political and the intimately personal are inexorably connected.
Morning Bites: Dubravka Ugresic, Idra Novey Interviewed, Nick Zinner and Zachary Lipez, Álvaro Enrigue, and More
In our morning reading: exploring the works of Dubravka Ugresic, interviews with Idra Novey and Álvaro Enrigue, and more.
Morning Bites: Lucia Berlin Revisited, Jonathan Lethem, Gabino Iglesias Interviewed, Sharron Kraus, and More
In our morning reading: revisiting the works of Lucia Berlin, interviews with Gabino Iglesias and Idra Novey, and more.